Armagh Robinson Library will host the 2025 Rokeby Lecture on Thursday 27 November 2025 at 7.30pm which will begin this year’s Armagh’s Georgian Festival.

The guest speaker is Dr Frank Ferguson and the title of his lecture is, ‘The Other Bishop’s Library: Thomas Percy’s Books, Ballads, Elks and Pikes’.  Frank Ferguson will explore the impact of Bishop Thomas Percy of Dromore, County Down.

Speaking ahead of his lecture, Frank said, “History has not been kind to Percy. He has not enjoyed the same renown as Archbishop Robinson of Armagh or Bishop Hervey of Downhill.  However, it could be argued that Percy’s literary endeavours as collector, editor and patron shaped the cultural landscape of Ireland and Britain in multiple and profound ways.”  Frank will suggest that Percy’s work and approach, set amid a time of political upheaval in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Ireland, offered a means to use song and poetry as a way to find common ground, religious tolerance and reconciliation.

Frank Ferguson is the Research Director for English Language and Literature at Ulster University.  An experienced researcher in Irish literary studies, he has written and edited a number of publications on Irish and Northern Irish literature including, ’Ulster-Scots Writing, an Anthology’ (Four Courts, 2008), ‘Revising Robert Burns and Ulster: literature, religion and politics, c.1770-1920’ (Four Courts 2009) and ‘John Hewitt – A North Light’ (Four Courts, 2013). He is the editor of ‘Balancing Acts: Conversations with Gerald Dawe on a Life in Poetry’ (Irish Academic Press 2023). He has managed a number of major projects on Irish writing and is currently the Chairperson of the John Hewitt Society, a Governor of the Linen Hall Library and a Committee Member of the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.

The Keeper of Armagh Robinson Library, the Very Revd Shane Forster, added, “We are delighted to welcome Dr Ferguson to give this year’s Rokeby Lecture.  Frank is no stranger to us in Armagh as he is, amongst other things, the Co-Ordinator for the Library’s Memorandum of Understanding with Ulster University.  That collaboration has as one of its objectives, the facilitation of the exchange of ideas and expertise, something which I know Frank will gladly and passionately do so during his lecture.  As always, we are grateful to Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council for their generous support of the Rokeby Lecture.”

Admission is free to the Rokeby Lecture with donations to the work of Armagh Robinson Library most welcome. Booking is essential by e-mailing admin@armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk or by telephoning 028 37523142.

For more info on Armagh Georgian Festival 2025, visit: www.visitarmagh.com/georgianfestival